Huawei’s wide foldable look has me excited for the future of foldable smartphones. The new Pura X Max is pushing a wider, more passport-like shape instead of the usual tall-and-narrow foldable formula, and the result looks immediately more practical. And that is exactly why Apple’s foldable iPhone rumors are making a lot more sense to me.
The wide shape fixes what regular foldables still get wrong
A lot of foldables still feel like two compromised devices pretending to be one. Closed, they can be too narrow or too thick. Open, they give you more screen, but not always in a way that feels naturally useful. Bigger is not the same thing as better if the aspect ratio still feels odd.
A wider foldable changes that equation. Shut, it can feel more like a normal phone. Open, it starts behaving more like a small tablet instead of a stretched-out handset. That is a much more convincing use of folding hardware.
That is why Apple’s rumored shorter, wider foldable sounds promising. Even if it ends up being a little trickier to fit into a pocket, the trade-off could be worth it if the device feels more stable in the hand and genuinely more useful when unfolded.
This could be the closest thing to a pocket iPad mini
Apple making a wide iPhone Fold might avoid the “gimmicky” pitfall and offer functionality closer to a portable iPad mini. It could make more sense for reading, watching videos, browsing, note-taking, and even handling split-screen apps without feeling cramped.
The device could even mimic some of the portable secondary-screen behavior that already makes the iPad mini useful in Apple’s ecosystem. So It isn’t just about a foldable first Apple product, rather how it could blend the functionality of two categories of device at once in a more believable way.
Apple also seems willing to make real trade-offs to get there. Recent reports say that the foldable iPhone may drop Face ID entirely, in favor of under-display camera technology on the inner screen. It might even preserve Camera Control, which suggests that Apple is still trying to preserve iPhone identity while adapting it to a much larger foldable form.
Apple could make the whole thing feel effortless
Huawei can prove that the hardware idea works, but considering its limited release, Apple might be the brand to give us a proper taste of this new form of foldables. But it won’t be alone as rumors also point at Samsung working on a Wide Fold too, which is expected to use a shorter, wider design with a 4:3 inner display and a more tablet-like shape when unfolded.
If Apple gets the software right, a wide iPhone Fold could become a much better portable second screen for document work, split-screen apps, video calls, and cross-device continuity. This is where Apple’s biggest advantage is. The company isn’t always known for being first, but it does make the devices feel effortless.